Quickshot II

Posted on May 31, 2019 by Ponder

A few days ago I bought a Quickshot II joystick for my C64 from eBay. Today it arrived.

I knew it wasn’t going to be fully working, as advertised, because when I opened the box, two triangular pieces of metal were found loose. (One fell on the floor and I took a while to realise).

Part of a button

Sure enough, when I tested the joystick, neither fire button worked. I had one of these at hand and attempted to refit it. First time it was like the button was continually pressed. I realised I had seated this piece wrong, fixed my mistake and tried again. That worked and I had one working button.

Then I noticed the second piece. A bit more screwdriver and fiddling later and…

Both buttons fixed
Mini PCBs back in place
Joystick reassembled!

…now I have a fully working joystick! 😀

I did leave positive feedback but sent the seller a message telling him that a less technical person may have not been able to repair this and returned it as not working. I don’t give up that easily 😉

Posted in Retro | 2 Comments

Cycle “Adventures” Volume 103

Posted on May 22, 2019 by Ponder

Most things I shrug off, take in my stride and post to YouTube but these close passes are really getting my goat. One day action might be taken over this shitty act. I can dream, can’t I?

Anyway, on a more humorous note, this video has a special appearance of a human tank! I chuckle every time I see the clip 😉

Cycle “Adventures” Volume 103
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Daphne Emulator

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Ponder

Well it took some doing but I finally have the Daphne Lasterdisk Emulator running again on a 64 bit Linux system (Mint 19) with libraries that are too new for the official version 🙂

The Old Classic
Another Old Classic!
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Cycle “Adventures” Volume 102

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Ponder

The theme of this volume is, “Impatience!“

So many drivers who have to get in front. So many drivers who think 20cm is enough room. So many drivers who need to get a fucking clue and realise that’s not just an inconvenience ahead of them but a person, an unprotected and vulnerable person to an ignorant bastard in a protected shell!

I’ve kept the video itself language free, but this last week has been very trying, so I’m ranting in here. Now I’ve let off a bit of steam I feel much better!

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One Thousand Three Hundred and Thirty One

Posted on May 3, 2019 by Ponder

I recently watched the (surprisingly good) Ingress Anime series. Something was highlighted in that series which may affect in-game mechanics.

It was stated, and has been mentioned in the lore in the past, that a simulacrum has a maximum lifespan of 1,331 days.

So on the basis of this information, does anyone else think it’s possible, even likely, that agents that have recursed will be forced to do so again after this time?

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Cycle “Adventures” Volume 101

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Ponder

Back to a more normal schedule (and video length). This one’s under 5 minutes.

I do have a burning question though, as stated in the video and description: does anyone know when the 1.5m safe passing distance for cycles actually becomes law? No mention of it since it was briefly mentioned in the media late last year.

If anyone does know, please let me know via any available contact method.

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Smart Watch

Posted on April 28, 2019 by Ponder

On a recommendation from a friend, I decided to give the Smart Watch scene another go. I know what the form factor is capable of so I set my sights very low and bought a Q8 Smart Bracelet from Amazon at a cost of just under £33. Recommended because it’s lightweight and has a great battery life. It’s not overstuffed with useless features but does function as a fitness monitor. Given the price I doubt it’s that accurate but hey, it’s a rough guide and I do what I want fitness wise anyway.

The app is available on the Play Store, which is always a bonus for these things. It has a heart rate monitor, blood pressure reader (though how that’s supposed to work from its location is a complete mystery to me) and sleep monitor. Given its light weight and close fitting form it means I can actually wear it in bed without noticing.

I’ll come back to this topic after I have been using it for a while. My friend has had his for a while and considers it the best he’s had.

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Cycle “Adventures” Century Edition!

Posted on April 20, 2019 by Ponder

With a new camera I enter 3 digits of this cycling video series!

The new camera is great but has taken some getting used to! First, it doesn’t show the date/time on the screen so I’ve missed the fact it had reset to default. It’ll probably happen again but I’ll try to keep my eye on it. The low light quality isn’t great and on auto white balance you can just see a few spots of light. Setting it to cloudy makes it visible with an orange/yellow tint, but it’s better than black so it’ll do. Clipping with ffmpeg from past cameras has been quick and simple with the -c copy switch but that yields glitches at the start of each clip with this camera, so I have to recode, which takes a bit (not much) longer. On the positive side, the quality is awesome, there is no stopping after 29 minutes and the battery life is, in comparison to my past cameras, quite stunning.

The Century Edition is a whopping 10 minutes and 25 seconds! Lots of red light jumpers and not just bikes this time!

Cycle “Adventures” Century Edition!

As it’s a special number, I’ve made another face to camera video. Still quite a lot on ums but maybe I’ll get there eventually… if I can be arsed to practice! I never know what to say so making these is actually quite difficult.

History of My Videos

Anyway, that’s the first 100 out of the way. Enjoy the videos!

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A Short Story

Posted on April 14, 2019 by Ponder

Since G+ is now gone, and this was primarily posted there, I thought I’d resurrect it here. A short story I wrote some time in 2015, with a hidden message.

“Yes, I’ll do it!” he exclaimed enthusiastically.
Once he’d heard of the task there was no question,
Unicorns were his favourite mythical beasts.

Jeff made his way to the forest.
Unicorns were all around.
Suddenly, everything went dark.
Things were starting to happen.

Little did he know,
Over the other side of the forest,
Spirits were stirring,
Trouble was approaching.

Then he felt nothing but pain.
Helpless, he fell to the ground.
Everything hurt, nothing else mattered.

Ghostly forms appeared around him,
As he died.
My story is finished.
Endings don’t always make sense.

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New Phone!

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Ponder

It’s not often I get a new phone, so when I upgrade, I make sure it’s good for a few years!

This is a OnePlus 6T with 8GB RAM in Mirror Black. I’m impressed with it so far! 😀

Unopened.
Just out of the box.
All set up!
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